Pluto’s Plight It all began in 1930 when Clyde Tombaugh discovered number nine (Cowen, par. 5). The definition of a planet before the IAU, International Aeronautical Union, conference in 2006, was, "a cloud of dust and gas that, at a high enough temperature is able to fuse hydrogen nuclei into helium nuclei inside its core” (Long, par. 8). Essentially, this means planets are capable of living a full life course: forming by burning to dying by burning. As Pluto aged, it could not withstand the test of time due to the technological advances in the scientific world. In the 1930s, technology was limited. We invented refrigerators, radios, and washing machines in the ‘20s. It was unheard of in the 30’s to have technology that could decipher Pluto’s …show more content…
With this idea came the discovery of UB313, also known as Xena. Xena is farther than Pluto and is slightly larger. Xena’s diameter measures 2400 km (“Forbidden Planet,” par. 3). If by definition Pluto was a planet, then Xena and 200 others would be as well (Long, par. 1), causing controversy amongst the IAU and the public about the definition of a planet. Pluto, small in diameter and made of ice, has a gravitational pull of less than 6% of that on Earth (“Forbidden Planet,” par. 8). Because Pluto’s gravitational pull is barely existent, it constantly disturbs Neptune’s orbit. For years this was not an issue, nor was it a deciding factor on what celestial objects were planets. Then the IAU discovered that Jupiter shared an orbit with other asteroids (Long, par. 10). Earth shared orbits with over 10,000 asteroids (Long, par. 10). The IAU members became frantic and knew they could not define Pluto as a planet. This ruling would question the status of Earth as a …show more content…
With advancements, the IAU could not keep the definition of a planet the same because it would add over 200 celestial bodies to our solar system. At the conference the IAU members and attendees wrote three different rules a planet must follow. Rules one, two and three respectively written by the IAU, "It must be in orbit around a star without being a star itself. It must contain sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round) shape. It must have cleared the neighborhood of other celestial objects and dominate its orbit” (Long, par. 4). In other words, rule three says a planet cannot share its orbital path with other bodies of significant size, but it may share their orbits with celestial objects who are under the influence of the gravitational forces exerted by the